


Defender of the Undying Fire

by PFDiva



Category: Friends at the Table (Podcast)
Genre: M/M, Timeline What Timeline, has already been jossed and i still dgaf
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-30
Updated: 2018-01-30
Packaged: 2019-03-11 11:33:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 755
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13523382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PFDiva/pseuds/PFDiva
Summary: Samothes notices a young knight





	Defender of the Undying Fire

**Author's Note:**

> I have reached the end of Autumn and I know Hadrian's having a crisis of faith and all that, but I also don't care because this dynamic is delicious to me. I am unapologetic.

There shouldn't have been anything special about the young knight. Not to Samothes, anyway. He had the whole of Hieron laid out before him, and the concerning behavior of young Samot to occupy him.

One knight should have meant nothing, but he prayed to Samothes every day. Multiple times a day. He even meant it.

Samothes had priests who weren't as devoted.

When the morning sun woke the knight, he praised Samothes for the new day. He didn't even complain in his own mind about the necessity of getting up or the sunlight piercing through his eyelids.

Getting dressed was another prayer of gratitude to Samothes for the blessing of his clothes to protect him under his armor and his armor to protect him from any attackers he might face. Morning services, aiding the poor, following the direction of the high priest, midday services, helping to maintain the peace, aiding the righteous, evening services, aiding believers, meals, kindnesses, fighting, all of it was a prayer to Samothes, and a genuine one from a true believer.

Samothes had no way of describing how it felt to be praised in this manner, and so effusively, but he did his best to share his appreciation. It didn't properly communicate, not at first. He had to be careful not to interfere with Hadrian's free will, and even more careful to avoid blowing out Hadrian's fragile spirit and destroying the human. It was a difficult tightrope to walk. He would see Hadrian hesitate, press a hand to his chest, sometimes close his eyes, savoring the feeling without understanding its cause. It soon became another thing that Hadrian professed gratitude to Samothes for, which was profoundly ironic.

And then Hadrian, the lovely fool, took on a task larger than himself. He went to stand before unbelievers and criminals, invoking all of Samothes' rightful names, and Samothes could not allow his true believer, speaking in his name, to stand alone. So Samothes stood with Hadrian, let Hadrian channel a bit of his essence into striking rightful fear into the hearts of those who should be fearful.

They were afraid. Hadrian was not.

When he stood in the carnage of his victory, Hadrian offered Samothes another prayer of gratitude, and Samothes let Hadrian feel his appreciation for the praise. That was when it finally clicked. Hadrian's private prayers that evening were confused, but more fervent that evening, and Samothes touched Hadrian again.

It was different, this time. Hadrian knew Samothes was there. He enjoyed Samothes' presence. He wanted it. The gates of his heart were thrown open wide for Samothes, and Samothes stepped in.

He couldn't say how Hadrian saw him, but he already knew Hadrian's spirit. It was undeniably beautiful, and Samothes reached out to touch Hadrian more deeply. He knew Hadrian's pleasure as surely as he knew the sun's light, and he knew Hadrian's fears as surely as he knew of the blight marking Hieron.

He couldn't do much about the blight, but he could certainly do something about Hadrian's fears, especially since Hadrian wanted him to do so. He drowned them in pleasure and when he had exhausted Hadrian, he left the human trembling and breathless. It was a different sort of worship, and one he couldn't bless Hadrian with often. Human souls were fragile, and even a small fraction of a god's energy was quite a lot.

Even so, Samothes continued to bless Hadrian with as much of his presence as Hadrian could stand. And the more Hadrian requested his power, the more Samothes could give. It was like a tempering of Hadrian's soul, punctuated by relatively frequent pockets of deep immersion. Hadrian certainly wasn't Samothes' only true believer, but he was one of Samothes' favorites.

This happened because Hadrian expressed a desire to share a fraction of what he experienced with Samothes. The god couldn't help but laugh. Kindly, but it was very funny to him. He already KNEW how Hadrian felt, and he said as much. He explained that he could feel what Hadrian felt, and it gave him pleasure and satisfaction. He explained that him sharing what he did with Hadrian was his way of sharing his pleasure at Hadrian's sincere prayers.

Hadrian prayed. In that space where Hadrian's soul touched a portion of Samothes', Hadrian prayed and Samothes reflected how that made him feel. He overdid it, just a bit, and Hadrian slept for days afterward, too weak to awaken.

Samothes was more careful in the future. He didn't want to damage his favorite paladin.


End file.
